Benni Hemm Hemm's newest album Retaliate

(Kimi)
Edinburgh via Iceland’s Benedikt H Hermannsson – that’s Benni Hemm Hemm to his many music-loving friends – has long enkindled our local stages with his gentle, warm acoustic pop. Retaliate, his first all-English language outing, is a rich, slow-burning mini-album that’s likely to captivate fans of Nick Drake, Euros Childs and eagleowl.

Embellished by some heady, measured double bass from Emily Scott, and Peter Liddle’s understated brass, Benni Hemm Hemm’s unhurried psalms are lovely: the nostalgic, pastoral folk of the title track; the wistful melody of ‘Shipcracks’. But don’t be misled by their welcome demeanour: knives, tattooed corpses and bloodshed all feature.